Celebrating Women In Engineering

We’re proud to be supporting International Women in Engineering Day 2018 on Saturday 23 June – as the campaign celebrates its fourth year across the UK.

2017 surveys indicate only 11% of the engineering workforce is female and the UK has the lowest proportion of female engineering professionals in Europe; so it’s vital we encourage more girls and women to consider this field as a career. That’s why we’re committed to building key relationships with colleges and universities across the country and supporting multiple STEM initiatives.

As part of our support, throughout June and July we’re sharing amazing stories of female engineers, to showcase diversity and inclusivity in what’s historically been a male-dominated industry. This ties with our efforts to support 2018 as the Year of Engineering – a 12-month campaign to tackle the engineering skills gap and grow the range of young people joining the profession.

This year’s theme for International Women in Engineering Day is ‘raising the bar’, and that’s certainly what these remarkable women have been doing. We hope you’ll be as inspired by their stories and achievements as we are.

Celebrating budding engineer Chelsea Back

Trainee electronics engineer Chelsea Back is a motivated woman working her way up through the industry. At just 22 years old, she's taking the field by storm. University student, BrightSpark winner, DesignSpark blogger, STEM Ambassador and part-time solderer all rolled into one. There aren't many people who'd juggle as many studies and hobbies as hers.

Chelsea's passion for engineering first sparked when she undertook work experience a few years ago at AB Open, a Halifax-based tech consultancy. Going on to complete her qualification for a HND in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Bradford College last year, she's now embarked on her latest journey of studying for a degree in Electronic Engineering at the University of Huddersfield.

While at college Chelsea, from Batley in West Yorkshire, also combined her studies with working part-time for AB Open, after her work experience opportunity led to her securing a fixed position in the team.

If that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, her passion for engineering also led to her being named as one of the top 30 engineers under 30 in the UK at the 2017 EW BrightSparks awards, which we help to run in partnership with leading industry magazine Electronics Weekly. She was praised for being a champion for women in STEM.

Her aspiration to become an engineer has catapulted her to where she is today, and it's undeniable she's demolished that glass ceiling.

Chelsea’s motivation to constantly learn has inspired her to write a regular blog series for our DesignSpark community; Diary of a Trainee Electronics Engineer. Plus she runs a soldering workshop every year at the Wuthering Bytes technology festival in Hebden Bridge! To top it all off, as a STEM Ambassador she volunteers her time to help bring science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects to life and demonstrate the value of them in careers.

It's clear that Chelsea's dedication to engineering has broken down barriers for women in the industry, and we're really excited to see where her future career takes here.

At RS and DesignSpark, we’re passionate about not just supplying engineers with the products they need, but also supporting them with opportunities, advice and recognition to help them achieve more. That’s why we want to celebrate Chelsea’s dedication in paving the way for more women in engineering.

Breaking stereotypes at BrightSparks 2018

A group of inspiring young women have been smashing misconceptions about engineering at this year’s EW BrightSparks programme. Among the accomplishments of these women is amazing work such as growing eyes from stem cells for blindness at Great Ormond Street Hospital and designing The StairSteady – an aid to enable people with limited mobility to use their stairs confidently and safely.

Organised by leading industry magazine Electronics Weekly and run in partnership with us at RS, EW BrightSparks highlights some of the most talented young electronics engineers in the UK today. The annual programme celebrates their achievements and showcases the diversity of engineering fields along with the social impact that a career in engineering can have. The ultimate goal is to encourage more young people to consider a career in engineering.

With such a shortage of female engineers in the UK at the moment (only 9% of UK engineers are female), we spoke to some of the young women breaking barriers to hear their thoughts on the industry and what can be done to combat its lack of diversity.

These talented engineers, who are all aged between 17 and 29, were among the winners in this year’s EW BrightSparks top 30 engineers under 30. From the absence of female role models, the impact of being a minority in the classroom and a lack of support from education systems, we heard what it really means to become a female engineer in the UK at the moment. The topics we deliberated really do highlight the vital need to engage more women in the field.

But attitudes are changing – and together we’re working to encourage more females to challenge the status quo and discover why they should consider a career in engineering.

Their discussions highlight that engineers are the modern-day ‘inventors’ and shine a spotlight on how often the creativity of this profession is overlooked. But whatever challenges they’ve faced, these women are helping to transform the future of the industry.

Watch our video to see their inspiring interviews and why they think engineering is an ‘awesome career’, plus discover more about the EW BrightSparks programme.

The women making Cypress Semiconductor a success

What does it take to work for a hugely successful global manufacturing company? We paid a visit to the team at Cypress Semiconductor to find out. We met some of the women working for Cypress – one of our leading suppliers which creates pioneering technology used in many of the world’s most popular mobile phones and leading brand cars.

Cypress’ headquarters are based in Silicon Valley, California, while its offices stretch all across the globe. Among its catalogue of products are the well-known PSoC devices, alongside a range of other wireless tools.

So to celebrate International Women in Engineering Day, we wanted to know more about some of the female employees helping to run this innovative company.

Although historically engineering has been a male dominated environment, the industry is changing. The importance of being diversified is more important than ever, as this shapes the future of the field. And these women are part of leading that movement.

Their ambition is helping Cypress be not just at the forefront of technology, but also society. Whether they were outnumbered by males in the school classroom, or began a career being one of only 40 women in an office of around 1,000 people – wherever they’ve come from, they’re now working for one of the most successful companies in the engineering sector today.

These women have broken the mould – and they’re making a positive influence on more females pursuing a career in engineering. Watch our video to meet them, as well as find out more about the Cypress products we stock.

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